Daily Greek Vocabulary Challenge: Jan. 9

Here are today's vocabulary words; it's Group 133. These are proverbs you saw last year, but this time they have been chosen to feature these feminine adjectives. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

μακρά ~ μακρᾶς (adj. fem.): long 

ἀσθενής ~ ἀσθενής (adj. fem.): weak, without strength 

πολλή ~ πολλῆς (adj. fem.): many 

πᾶσα ~ πάσης (adj. fem.): all, every 

κοινή ~ κοινῆς (adj. fem.): common, shared 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Μακραὶ τυράννων χεῖρες.

Μιᾶς γὰρ χειρὸς ἀσθενὴς μάχη.

Πολλαῖς πληγαῖς δρῦς δαμάζεται.

Ὕπνος δὲ πάσης ἐστὶν ὑγιεία νόσου.

Μήτηρ ἁπάντων γαῖα καὶ κοινὴ τροφός.

And now, some commentary:

Μακραὶ τυράννων χεῖρες.

Long (are) the hands of tyrants.

Compare the English proverb, "Kings have long arms." In other words, kings, tyrants, etc. can exert their dangerous power at a distance. And yes, the English word "tyrant" comes from the Greek. Compare an expanded version in Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac: "Kings have long Arms, but Misfortune longer: Let none think themselves out of her Reach."

Μιᾶς γὰρ χειρὸς ἀσθενὴς μάχη.

The combat of one hand (is) weak.

If you are in a fight, you don't want to fight single-handedly; metaphorically, you don't want to fight alone. The saying appears in the play Children of Heracles by Euripides. The word ἀσθενὴς is an alpha-privative: ἀ-σθενὴς, not-strong (the noun σθένος means "strength").

Πολλαῖς πληγαῖς δρῦς δαμάζεται.

By many blows (of the axe), the oak tree is toppled.

In other words: if you have a big task in front of you, be persistent! You are not going to get the job done all at once. This is a good saying for language learners too: Greek is learned one word at a time. :-)

Ὕπνος δὲ πάσης ἐστὶν ὑγιεία νόσου. 
Sleep is a cure for every illness.
Literally: Sleep is the health of every illness. This is one of the monostichs of Menander. You can read about the god of sleep at Wikipedia: Hypnos.

Μήτηρ ἁπάντων γαῖα καὶ κοινὴ τροφός.

Earth is the mother of all and (our) common nurturer.

This is another of the iambic monostichs of Menander; here's the meter marked:

Μήτηρ ἁπάν|των γαῖ-α καὶ | κοινὴ τροφός.
The word γαῖα is also the name of the Earth Goddess, Gaia: Wikipedia. The root gives us all the geo- words in English, like geology and geography, etc.

Coptic Gaia-Isis

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too :

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